Sugar Glider Store Blog: Breeding Sugar Gliders in Captivity Sugar Glider Store

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Friday, November 12, 2010

Breeding Sugar gliders is a rewarding and memorable experience. Here is a 'run down' of a few things to think about when considering breeding...

- Part 1 of a 3 Part Series -

Colony Breeding vs Breeding in Pairs:

There are two ways of breeding Sugar gliders, they can be breed in pairs or trios, or they can be bred in colonies of up to 12 in a communal large aviary type cage. There are advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.
Colony breeding will not produce as many babies as would breeding in pairs and trios. Babies tend to not get the protective care when in colonies as they would if in pairs or trios. There is a higher rate of babies disappearing in colonies. You have to assume that they have been eaten. The best way to go about colony breeding is to assemble multiple female sugar gliders (10) and one or two males. One male Sugar glider can impregnate up to 12 females, so extra males are not necessary to take up room in the cage. The issue you may find is that it is difficult to assemble that many females. Breeders are reluctant to part with there baby producing stock, and tend to sell more males than females. One male Sugar glider will tend to become dominant, and do all the breeding, the rest of the males become redundant. You will also have a hard time selling babies that are not related, since most will have the same father.
With pair and trio breeding, it is much easier to keep track or the babies, easier to separate breeding lines, and easier to keep track of how much the babies are eating.

Although there is an advantage of housing many Sugar gliders together in a colony (easier to feed & clean when all in one cage). There are more advantages from a breeding prospective using the pair or trio method.

Keep records - It is necessary to record health, litter size, fertility, parenting ability and temperament. This will allow you to determine which gliders are the best to keep in your breeding population.

Colony Housing - Colony cages should be a minimum of 4' x 4' x 7' Here is an example of a colony cage. There should also be multiple feeding and watering stations throughout the cage. Make sure that there are multiple doors, some large and some small, so that you can access the cage without the gliders escaping. Hang multiple nesting pouches throughout the cage, and supply climbing branches and multiple exercise wheels for the gliders.

Dietary requirements for Breeders:

It is strongly suggested that you increase the protein intake of your breeding stock. You can accomplish this by adding live, canned or dried insect to the diet. Insect-Eater Diet is a good addition and contains whole insects to increase the protein content of the diet. The addition of a multi-Vitamin and calcium supplement is also recommended for pregnant or lactating females. Our recommendation is adding Glider Booster to the diet as a multi-vitamin and Glider-Cal as a calcium supplement.

Part 2 to this series will publish in the upcoming weeks.

Before attempting to raise and sell Sugar gliders, we suggest that you contact the department below to check for regulations in your state.

US Dept. of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Regulatory Enforcement and Animal Care
Sector Supervisor
2568-A Riva Road, Suite 302
Annapolis, MD 21401-7400
and ask for information on how to get licensed to raise and sell exotics.

by: Sugar Glider Store

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